Vegan shopping at Aldi

My husband and I have decided to keep an eye on our grocery spending- turns out going to Whole Foods on an empty stomach isn't very friendly.



So I decided to see what Aldi could offer to vegans. I was pleasantly surprised. Here is what I picked up this past Sunday:



2 cans tomato paste @ .39 each

big can pinto beans @.999

regular can kidney beans @ .59

can corn @.55

2 cans stewed tomatoes @.55

24 oz jar medium salsa @1.49

chili powder @ 1.09

frozen hashbrown patties @ 2.99

Apple Crunchies cereal @ 1.49

Choco peanut butter cereal @1.89

2 lbs red grapes @ 1.58

peanut butter filled pretzels @.99

adzuki bean and brown rice chipes @.99



With tax I spent $16.81.



I supplemented this with some produce and tortillas from our local gocery store. My total for the week is $27! What a bargain!

Lazy Sunday

Keeping up with a blog is harder than expected! I am a dedicated lounger and the thought of typing a post can be exhausting! So here is a mega post from the past week or so.

I found this sushi kit when I visited my sister in Peoria:

I was intrigued. Inside was seaweed wrappers, soy sauce, and brown sushi rice.

I filled each wrapper with cucumber, carrot, the rice, and avocado. Clearly, this was my first attempt at homemade sushi. It tasted great, though.

Valentine's Day provided me with a wonderful opportunity to make my first raw dessert!!

I made chocolate lava cake from Ani Phyo's Raw Desserts book. Well, it wasn't totally wrong because I used cocoa powder instead of cocao powder, but the taste was awesome. I can't wait to try more raw desserts!!!!!

The raspberry sauce really made the cake!

In closing, I leave you with a big bowl of delicious kale. I ate an entire bunch! I LOVE this recipe. Heaven in a bowl.

Give Away at Ginger is the New Pink

Check out this awesome giveaway on Lauren's blog!

Banana Coffee Cake, Brunch, and BBQ Tofu

I had a mini hiatus due to a combination of laziness and a mini business trip. I went on a three day trip to the Special Olympics Illinois Winter Games for work. Now I'm back in action!

Last weekend I made a Bisquick coffee cake, replacing the egg with banana. This was a much better use for our 5 lbs of Bisquick than our attempt to make pancakes with the mix.

It's turning into a weekly tradition to have our friend Natalie over for brunch on the weekend. This time I made a variation of Egg McVegans. Even though we didn't have any vegan cheese, this recipe was still great. I used tempeh bacon instead of the vegan sausage it calls for.

One night for dinner I made the super easy Crockpot BBQ Tofu. I served it with mac n cheeze with veggies and a biscuit. A nice vegan take on a traditional family dinner!